After having middling success with its streaming hardware and smart speakers, While Apple dominates smartphones, tablets, and computers, the company has had a rough time with some of its smaller product lineups. Strategy Analytics notes that Apple s for just 2% of the TV streaming hardware market and under 10% for smart speakers, meaning there's plenty of room for the company to grow and try something new.
Apple's current approach to both the streaming and smart speaker niches has been interesting to watch. The Apple TV 4K is an excellent streaming device, but it's also exorbitantly more expensive than a lot of its competition. In light of that, there are rumors of Apple working on a cheaper model that can more directly compete with the likes of Roku and Amazon. The original HomePod was faced with a similar fate, with the big $349 speaker now being completely replaced by the smaller and more affordable HomePod mini. As Apple continues to make Apple TV and HomePod more accessible to as many people as possible, the next step in the process could see the two things being melded together.
According to a provide the Apple TV experience people are already familiar with, and if they have a question for Siri or want to listen to something on Apple Music, they can also use it like any other HomePod.
What An Apple TV + HomePod Device Needs To Succeed
While a combo smart home device like this would be a first for Apple, it wouldn't be breaking any new ground in the tech space in general. Amazon has something very similar with its Fire TV Cube, which combines a Fire TV and Echo speaker into one package for just $120. While the Apple TV + HomePod device would likely have more powerful specs and a higher-quality speaker than Amazon's offering, Apple can't afford to outprice itself like it's done with the standalone Apple TV and HomePod. For some context, the Apple TV 4K still retails for $179 almost four years after its initial release.
If Apple wants to start seeing bigger market share numbers for streaming hardware and smart speakers, the company has to acknowledge that its pricing model doesn't work in these niches. If someone can buy the Fire TV Cube for $120 or a new Chromecast + Nest Mini for $100, Apple's going to have a hard time making a case for its Apple TV + HomePod combination if it costs substantially more than the endless alternatives shoppers have.
Should Apple manage to smartly price this device, though, it could prove to be one of the company's most interesting hardware releases yet. The foundations of Apple TV and HomePod are both fantastic, and if those two things can be combined into a single package that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, there will be a lot of potential for success there. There's no word on pricing or release (or if the project will actually see the light of day), but it sounds like Apple is on the right track to start taking the smart home market more seriously.
Source: Bloomberg, Strategy Analytics